Electronic devices mounted on bicycles, for example, for controlling the electronic gearshift and/or for acquiring, displaying, and controlling riding parameters and various functions, provide for the use of a power supply unit.
The power supply unit typically consists of one or more batteries typically connected in series, also referred to as a battery pack. When the batteries used for such electronic devices are of a rechargeable type, they need to be charged by an external energy source, for example, a conventional electrical outlet or an automobile battery through a cigarette lighter socket of the automobile.
The battery charging process should take into account some characteristic parameters of the battery itself, dependant upon its type and, in particular, its chemistry. Such characteristic parameters are supplied by the battery manufacturer.
In particular, the charging of the battery at a temperature outside of a given closed characteristic temperature range—not necessarily coinciding with, and usually more limited than, the closed operating temperature range of the battery—can lead to the battery itself being damaged.
In the following present description and in the attached claims, such a closed range is indicated as closed charging temperature range.
In a known method and a system for charging a battery power supply unit for bicycle electronic devices, the power supply unit has an associated temperature sensor and in the battery charger a control logic is provided that suspends the charging of the battery if the temperature detected by the sensor is higher than a predetermined limit temperature, signalling overheating.
During the cold seasons, the battery power supply unit can reach temperature values lower than the lower limit of the aforementioned closed charging temperature range. Therefore, charging of the power supply unit on a bicycle parked outdoors or in a non-heated garage cannot take place; charging of the power supply unit removed from the bicycle and placed in a heated area also cannot occur until the temperature of the power supply unit goes above such a lower temperature limit.
The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is to make a method for controlling and a system for charging batteries that allow battery charging to also be carried out in critical temperature conditions.